Chapter 16: Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks

When the Artifact God discovered the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks, he asked Qu Yi whether to attack them. After all, Qu Yi’s current target was monsters at the mid-Jindan stage, and now the arrival of six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks at the late Jindan stage had greatly increased the difficulty.
Qu Yi hesitated hardly at all and immediately said he wanted to attack them, as these Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks were metal-type monsters with metal-type demon pills inside—precisely what Qu Yi lacked severely.
Thus, Qu Yi, Bai Man, Qing Wu Gui, Wu Yuan, and the two Turtle Wyverns together faced the hostility of the six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks.
“You six, have you been killing many of our Jindan-stage monsters in this sea area recently?” one of the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks suddenly spoke up.
It turned out that these six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks were the lords of the monsters in this sea area. Recently, they noticed some monsters failing to report to their territory, so they came out together to inspect the situation.
“You’re right. The six of us went underwater just to look for some ores. Those monsters actually attacked us, so we had no choice but to kill them,” Qu Yi replied casually.
The real purpose of killing monsters and seizing their demon pills could never be revealed by Qu Yi. Otherwise, those six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks would definitely report to the higher-ranking rulers of the ocean, and then all the ocean monsters would come, forcing Qu Yi and his group to flee into the Dimensional Sphere.
“Humans, you dare break the rules and invade our ocean monsters! Aren’t you afraid that we, the underwater monsters, will attack you on land?” another Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark roared.
Clearly, for Qu Yi and his group, wantonly killing underwater monsters, especially within their territory, was an unforgivable crime.
Qu Yi immediately cast a disdainful look and laughed, “I say, you six—why all this talk? Do you really think you’ll let us go? If you want to fight, let’s do it.”
It was Qu Yi who declared the battle to begin!
The six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks sensed a sense of contempt and lost any desire to argue verbally. They opened their huge mouths and rushed at Qu Yi and his group fiercely.
In an instant, Qu Yi pulled Bai Man into the Dimensional Sphere. After all, Bai Man was only at the early Jindan stage. Although she possessed the inferior treasure sword, the Locust Snake Sword, it was difficult for her to harm the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks. Qu Yi wanted to ensure Bai Man’s safety first to avoid any accidents during the battle.

In an instant, the two turtle dragons charged forward to fight against the two purple-scaled tiger sharks. Wuyuan and Siti also rushed toward one of the purple-scaled tiger sharks. Qu Yi immediately flew in front of another purple-scaled tiger shark, drew out his Red Nan Sword, and struck straight at it. Qing Wu Gui then shouted out, challenging the two purple-scaled tiger sharks.

“You brat, you’re too arrogant. I’m going to kill you!” the purple-scaled tiger shark fighting against Qu Yi roared angrily.

It made sense—Qu Yi had looked at the six purple-scaled tiger sharks with a look of certainty from start to finish, which naturally angered this one.

“Is that so? If you want to kill me, go ahead. But I must remind you to stay alert—my speed is extremely fast,” Qu Yi said with a grin, swinging his Red Nan Sword swiftly.

The purple-scaled tiger shark immediately became wary. Though it was furious at Qu Yi’s tone, it understood that a madman must have his reasons for being arrogant. Especially after feeling the sharpness of the Red Nan Sword, it dared not take it lightly.

Qu Yi immediately used the technique “Ten Thousand Miles in an Inch,” boosting his speed to nearly that of a cultivator in the early Yuan Ying stage. He then moved to the tail of the purple-scaled tiger shark and slashed with his sword.

The purple-scaled tiger shark panicked. Its speed was already fast among underwater monsters, but it still wasn’t as fast as a cultivator in the early Yuan Ying stage. Before it could turn around, Qu Yi launched a surprise attack.

Qu Yi’s slash only managed to cut a slit in the tiger shark’s tail, failing to penetrate deeper. From this, Qu Yi realized that the purple scales on the tiger shark’s body had defensive power nearly on par with that of an early Yuan Ying cultivator. Although his inferior treasure sword could cut through them, it required a tremendous amount of vital energy.

“I’ll bite you to death!” The purple-scaled tiger shark, feeling intense pain, shouted and swung its head to bite Qu Yi.

Qu Yi dodged quickly and decided to slowly entangle himself with this purple-scaled tiger shark, looking for an opportunity to kill it.

……

On the other side, the two turtle dragons and the two purple-scaled tiger sharks were locked in a fierce battle.

The turtle dragons, possessing dragon blood, had strong attack and explosive power. However, the purple-scaled tiger sharks had their protective purple scales, which meant even powerful attacks could only cause minor pain. It was difficult to inflict internal injuries on them.

Relying on their defensive capabilities, the purple-scaled tiger sharks opened their mouths wide and bit fiercely, seemingly determined to swallow the two turtle dragons whole. The turtle dragons, on the other hand, had agile bodies and could shrink their twenty-meter-long bodies to just over a meter long, moving like sea snakes around the massive tiger sharks. If the tiger sharks were careless, the turtle dragons would return to their normal size and deliver a devastating strike.

This fierce and aggressive battle, marked by ambushes and stalemates, continued endlessly.
On the other side, Wuyuan was chasing after a Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark to attack it.
Wuyuan, which fed on vital essence, emitted a strong scent of it as soon as it started fighting, then lunged at the Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, its dragon mouth wide open, aiming to bite through its body and suck out its blood.
The Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, likely having never encountered such a blood-drinking monster before, lacked a Golden Core but possessed a terrifying strength on par with the late stage of a Golden Core. Especially with its genuine dragon head, it could easily bite through its own purple scales. Thus, its strategy was to rely on speed to constantly defend against and hold back Wuyuan.
Wuyuan was helpless. If it were on the sea surface, it could probably defeat this Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark in an instant, but at the bottom of the ocean, its wings were useless, and it was unrealistic to boost its speed.
So, although Wuyuan appeared ferocious as it bit at the Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, it never managed to land a hit or catch up, only able to growl in frustration.
…
Compared to the attacks of the others, Qingwugui faced things much more easily.
Holding a black sword in his hand, he could easily neutralize the Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark’s vital energy attacks with a mere swing, while his own attacks could scare the shark into full defense.
Qingwugui himself didn’t know the grade of this black sword. Later, the Weapon God explained that it was made from the high-quality material, the Shadow Demon Stone, but it wasn’t a high-grade treasure—this depended closely on Qingwugui’s cultivation level.
Qingwugui had encountered a miracle: he entered a Demon Scattering Cave and obtained a book called the “Asura Demon Scripture,” through which he practiced the Asura Demon Path. By killing enemies, he could sense their energy, harness it for himself, and cultivate an Asura heart.
If Qingwugui possessed an Asura heart, he could use it to refine the black sword day and night, allowing it to transform into a low-grade spiritual weapon.
However, even now, the sharpness of the black sword was already at the level of a high-grade treasure, so it was certainly not something the Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark could underestimate.
The two Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks dared not attack Qingwugui up close and could only launch golden sword auras at him from afar.
When Qingwugui saw the two sharks launching vital energy attacks, he was overjoyed and deliberately reduced his own attack power, allowing them to attack him freely.
It turned out that during this battle, Qingwugui was also analyzing the sharks’ attack patterns and energy flow, understanding their energy characteristics.

Just like in the battle against Qianzu Spider, Qingwugui observed the attack patterns of the Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark twice before grasping its energy characteristics. He then used his black sword to launch a spell attack similar to that of the Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark.
“Golden Sword in the Stomach!”
Qingwugui softly commanded, and immediately, a golden sword energy surged upward from his black sword, flying swiftly toward one of the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks.
“What!”
The two Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks were shocked, as this “Golden Sword in the Stomach” was their unique spell—concentrating all their golden energy in their stomachs to continuously emit golden sword-shaped attacks.
Qingwugui had only sensed it three times before mastering this skill, which naturally stunned the two Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks. And at the moment they were distracted, Qingwugui’s “Golden Sword in the Stomach” already struck one of them.
A huge blood hole appeared in the middle of its body, with endless blood gushing out.
Over there, Wuyuan was frustrated. Seeing Qingwugui succeed in one strike, he immediately rushed toward the injured Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, his dragon head roaring.
“Qingwugui, please take care of my Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark. I’ll deal with this one,” Wuyuan shouted in ecstasy.
Clearly, Wuyuan had been struggling to defeat them and had been toyed with by the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks, which had left him extremely annoyed. Now that he saw Qingwugui injure one of them, knowing its speed would surely decline greatly, his disadvantage in speed underwater vanished. He immediately switched targets to attack the injured one.
Qingwugui chuckled and swung his black sword again, continuing to attack the other Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, which was still in shock.
With one of the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks injured, the entire battle situation changed drastically.
Wuyuan could now be confident about taking down the injured one, while Qingwugui could easily handle the two Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks along with Qu Yi and the two Turtle Dragons, as long as he continued to hold off the other three.
Once Wuyuan consumed the essence and blood of that Purple-Scaled Tiger Shark, he could come to help, and then the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks would face total annihilation.
The six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks, having reached the later stage of the Golden Core cultivation and possessing advanced intelligence, naturally understood the current situation. They certainly wouldn’t allow themselves to be killed by these humans like other beasts.
“Six Sharks, Advance Together!”
One of the Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks shouted, and soon the six of them began to defend themselves while slowly moving closer together, lining up side by side.
The six Purple-Scaled Tiger Sharks intended to attack and defend together to deal with Qu Yi and the others.

“Interesting!” Qu Yi couldn’t help but express his admiration.
“Yes, indeed interesting!” Qing Wu Gui not only appreciated it but also showed great joy, clearly eager to learn more spells from the Purple Scaled Tiger Shark.
Wu Yuan and the two Turtle Wyverns also came over to Qu Yi and Qing Wu Gui.